I’ve thought long and hard about this, talked with several friends over the course of the past year. This isn’t an easy decision for me, but given the current climate, I think it’s the only choice I can make. I have to be honest with myself, and therefore, honest with you, my readers.
The truth is…
…there is misandry in publishing. It is very real. Publishers prioritize women with female-only author events such as Artemis Rising, or have special submissions windows for female authors only. The Guardian reported the publishing industry is 78% female, and they want to push the other 22% out. All of their websites say they prefer women/minorities over other writers. I did an analysis last year, demonstrating with empirical facts that men have a harder time of getting published than women by a long shot.
After serious deliberations, I will be only submitting short fiction to professional markets from a new female pen name. I’ve come up with the name, I’ve got the email address, it’s ready to go. I will be, for all intents and purposes, a female author. It’s the only way to get ahead in the business, and the smart thing to do. I won’t be broadcasting the name here in case of any inadvertent discrimination, but I will keep you informed as to how reactions change based on having a female name. It’ll be interesting to say the least.
If you think I might not be able to pull it off, read For Steam And Country. My award-nominated book is written first person from the perspective of a 16 year old girl. I can be a character as easily as I can write them in my books. And dozens of women have emailed me saying I wrote about the most realistic female character they’ve read in SF/F. Check it out for yourself.
Let the comedy begin!
Go for it! I look forward to your updates.
I know a gentleman who writes cozy mysteries under several different female pen names, and I’ve seen other males who write romance under female pen names. And women write under male names, or initials all the time (I write under initials because I don’t want to be taken for the average female writer these days, but that’s a different problem.)
It’s all marketing. No reader cares what the author name is, beyond a set of letters on the cover. All that matters is the story itself.
Heck fire, I wish it was working for me…
Of course, as a gun-toting conservative Christian who writes mainly male protags , I’m the Wrong Kind of woman. So I guess there’s that.
Be more oppressed!
Joanna Delarossa?
Funny enough there was someone defending me over the Worldcon thing named “Jo” and they all thought it was me.
I’m not sure how seriously I should take this, whether Jon is simply indulging in black humor and satire, or means it! Given how weird, irrational, and grotesque our times are, it actually makes sense to pretend to be a woman author.
Tbqh I wouldn’t identify with either gender….. or age, or location, or any other real world identifier that could be used to doxx me or my loved ones.
Internet is crazy these days. Very handy of TPTB to allow us the option of ‘prefer not to say’